Dorner’s Training Officer Provided Crucial Tip

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Dorner’s Training Officer Provided Crucial Tip

It was nearing midnight when Terie Evans called police in Irvine with a hunch: An ex-Los Angeles police officer named Christopher Dorner might have killed a young Irvine woman and her fiance a few days earlier.

Evans, an LAPD sergeant who had trained Dorner, conceded that her theory was a long shot.

But Dorner’s name had suddenly surfaced the day before in a strange phone call. And she knew he had a connection to the woman who had been killed. It seemed too much to dismiss as a coincidence.

It wouldn’t take long for Irvine detectives to realize just how valuable Evans’ tip was.Before dawn they were looking into Dorner.

An investigator uncovered a rambling manifesto Dorner allegedly posted online, that expressed fury over his firing years earlier and laid out his plan to exact revenge by killing officers he blamed for his downfall and their family members.

The discovery sent Evans and about 50 other LAPD officers and their families either into hiding or under the protection of heavily armed guards as a massive manhunt for Dorner unfolded across Southern California.

For the eight days that Dorner eluded capture, Evans remained silent and laid low, while Irvine and Los Angeles police officials kept secret her role in identifying the suspect.

Evans had been Dorner’s training officer and was at the center of the incident that led to his dismissal from the force.

Authorities worried it might enrage Dorner further if he knew she had once again played a lead role in determining his fate.

On Thursday, Evans spoke to The Times about what happened, and police confirmed her account.

It began for Evans on Monday, Feb. 4 — the day after the bodies of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence had been found riddled with bullets in their car.

Evans, 47, received a message that an officer from a small department south of San Diego was trying to reach her.

When she returned the call, the officer told her that he had found pieces of a large-sized police uniform, some ammunition and other items discarded in a dumpster that appeared to belong to an LAPD officer with the last name Dorner.

Evans’ name and other items were written in a small notebook found with the other things. The officer asked: Did Evans know this guy Dorner?

She did know him. Several years earlier, Evans and Dorner, a rookie cop, had been partners. The pairing had ended badly when Dorner accused Evans of kicking a handcuffed man.

Evans denied the allegations and an investigation cleared the 18-year veteran of wrongdoing. LAPD officials went on to fire Dorner after concluding he had fabricated the story.

“Just hearing his name was enough to make me feel sick,” Evans said.

Evans hadn’t been able to shake the uneasy feeling when she went to work the following evening.

Before beginning her night shift, she stopped in the police station’s parking lot to talk with some other officers.

The conversation turned to the Irvine killings. Evans had heard about the case, but knew no details.

The dead woman, one of the officers said, was the daughter of Randy Quan, a former LAPD captain-turned-lawyer who represented LAPD officers in disciplinary hearings when they ran afoul of the department.

The hair on the back of Evans’ neck stood up. Another wave of the shakiness she had felt on the phone washed over her.

She struggled to make sense of her thoughts. Quan. Dorner. The belongings in the dumpster.

Through her night shift, a “nagging, sinking feeling” dogged her. “I have to call Irvine PD,” she recalled thinking.

“In my mind, it felt like such a long shot,” Evans said. “But my gut feeling made it a lot stronger than that. I just knew. Something told me that there was some kind of a connection.”

Evans called the Irvine Police Department and told a supervisor her theory: Quan had represented Dorner at his termination proceedings.

What if Dorner had killed Quan’s daughter and her fiance as part of a vendetta and then tossed his belongings in the dumpster before escaping across the border to Mexico?

About 1 a.m., an Irvine detective called back and Evans repeated her suspicions. A few hours later, her shift ended and Evans went home to sleep.

When she awoke, a message from another Irvine detective, left early that morning, was waiting for her.

Investigators were pursuing her lead and were on their way to San Diego to examine Dorner’s belongings.

“At that point, I was absolutely sick,” Evans said. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, it really is him.’ I knew no one knew where he was … I thought, ‘What am I going to do?'”

“At the time Mr. Dorner was terminated, I had a very uneasy feeling,” she said.

“I knew he was very upset and I had concerns that at some point he may try to contact me. So, this was just validating the bad feeling I carried with me for years. I was scared to death.”

About 1:30 p.m., Evans said she was on her way to watch her teenage son play soccer when her phone rang again. They had discovered the manifesto. “I was told my family and I were not safe.”

After making sure her son was with his father — a retired cop — Evans drove around aimlessly, fearing that Dorner could be waiting for her at her home or police station.

Within 20 minutes, she recalled, someone from the LAPD called to make plans for protecting her and her family.

Police say Dorner killed two officers as well as the Irvine couple, and injured three more officers in gun battles, before apparently killing himself last week in the basement of a Big Bear cabin as authorities closed in on him.

Evans has not yet returned to her home. She and police officials said Evans has continued to receive threats. In addition, someone tried to break in to her home, police said.

“I honestly don’t think my life will ever be normal the way it was before.

This was such an extraordinary circumstance, I don’t know if I’m ever going to feel safe in my home again,” Evans said. “Years from now, my family could potentially still be at risk.”

49 comments

Daisy may

Evans is a loser, kicking a punching a poor mental guy then trying to cover-up. Your the bitch that started all this kaos, don't forget that honey B. Your word means nothing to noone B, except your fellow officers from the brotherhood. Dorner exposed you B, I believe him anyday over you B. Keep the cover-up going B, that's all you know how to do B……

spearchucker

Jack

Dorner was a liar and a failure. He was mad at others for his own shortcomings. He was obviously, throught his course of actions, mentally unstable. Evans should be commended for getting a dangerous individual off of the police force. She, and others, saw right through this unstable individual.

Tam Da Ham

Wow…after reading spearchucker and Jack's replies. You both are blind! I guess the family you came from are pretty low peeps who don't know anything about integrity and honor. But its ok though, its not your fault for becoming stupid. Anyways, he shouldn't have killed the innocent and that's what made me lose his support. Oh yeah, including his support for that old hag Feinstein and that British bigot Piers Morgan. Have you read Dorners manifesto? If you have then you would understand. If you read it and don't understand, God help you. LOL

spearchucker

blake

Due to errors of the past, many in the public are skeptics and don't support the police. However, even if some injustices were made Chief Beck has been an honest and fair man of integrity and it's not fair to blame the entire department for the actions of a few. In any regards, the murderous rampage by a trained sniper with a personal vendetta can in no way not even for one second be justified or tolerated. Just imagine a society where all the psychos feel it's okay to kill people because they're pissed off. Then all the cop haters would be crying for more police protection. I've been released from jobs 5 times in my life and of course at those times I felt unfairly. But I didn't turn "postal" or do a "dorner" rampage. If everyone who ever lost their job from the 2009 recession decided to go on murderous rampages by killing innocent people who didn't know them or have anything to do with them, or to kill their ex-bosses or anybody… can you imagine the bloodbath that would ensue? It would be a violent anarchy that only could benefit criminals and the criminally insane. No, Chris Dorner turned out to be a coward who ambushed unsuspecting victims and rather than pay for his crimes, he took the easy way out and killed himself. He's no hero like those who were murdered trying to capture him. Sanity was restored and terrorism placed in check with Dorner's death. Unfortunately, from many posts that I've read on several "mainstream" sites, I suspect there's a lot more ticking time bombs like Dorner waiting to explode. And that's a real shame that our relatively free and moral society has degenerated to that low state.

Guest

@Blake, YOU CAN SAY WHAT YOU WANT…….DORNER WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE MY HERO!!!!!!
I just want to say that I commend Christopher Dorner for taking a STAND against CORRUPTION AND RACISM………If you are a MINORITY you are judged and discriminated against, and he(Dorner) REFUSE to go unheard. The public was NOT HIS TARGET!!!!! He is a TRUE example of an individual TELLING THE TRUTH and no one wanted to believe or even wanted to heard from a MINORITY when it’s going against WHITE PEOPLE. I have been there and I know how he felt to be telling the TRUTH and no one will believe you. Well Chris I BELIEVE YOU and thank you for being OUR VOICE AND ACTION!!!!!!!

S4287

Blake I agree with 99% of what you said. Dorner was an idiot who is being idolized by a bunch of other idiots who somehow feel that he didn't make the cut because the racist hand in the system kept him out. The truth of the matter is that Dorner only cried racism when he knew he was going to get shit canned for being unfit to be a cop. He was not a trained sniper, if so he wouldn't of ambushed all his victims. Proof is in the pudding, when he shot it out with the cops in Corona and they shot back he ran like the coward he really was, only to ambush the Riverside cops a couple of miles up the street. Beck is a politician who is only pandering to Villaregosa and the idiots on the police commission. As a Vet and a LEO it's clear that the only thing Dorner accomplished was embarrassing the military. I feel sorry for his family because as I see it he was the embarrassment !!

Dick

Klark

Adam Lanza is probably your hero too right? You probably would love to give James Earl Ray a hug too? Charles Manson at your house? You want to have a party to celebrate Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold? If you worship a murderer, then you worship murders, for in all of the minds of these killers, they are heroes.

bubbles

S4287

Bone Job

Theresa Evans is going to get that REWARD! She's going to be rewarded for ultimately being responsible for all this!

Then she won't take it because, it's part of her job and she'll look like a hero cop! She needs to find a new job. I'm thinking, a professional kick boxer like Tonya Harding. cause… Theresa Evans and Tonya Harding are ONE IN THE SAME!

Bone Job

Sam I Am

In Support of Terie

I have known Terie Evans for 30 years. She is a good person and a good cop. Dorner threating her family was wrong, shooting inoccent people was wrong. No matter what he claimed happened and no matter how upset he was he KILLED PEOPLE. Hero I hardly think so! Tell that to the families that lost loved ones to him. If Terie hadn't acted on her hunch I am sure there would have been many many more victims.
Please don't get me wrong I am not a huge fan of the LAPD. They have done some terrible things over the years and yes they have had issues with corruption. But this one they got right. Dorner was crazy and he just couldn't let go.

tuffyturf

In Support of Terie

Not Terie you idiot. Again not a fan of LAPD but know Terie and her family well. They did raise a good person you don't know her at all so don't judge what you don't know especially based on the words of a lunatic who went around killing innocent people.

Tam Da Ham

If she was a good person and a good cop, she would fess up to what she did wrong. Even if it cost her career. I don't know what kind of family she grew up in but I would have to say that her parents had raised her poorly. Didn't teach anything about honor and integrity? If I was a cop and knew for a fact I did wrong, I would admit it and step down on my own. It takes a much stronger person to do the HARDER RIGHT than the EASIER WRONG. I agree that Dorner shouldn't have killed innocent people. But I believe it was righteous to target the corrupt, and dispose of them even if it means to spill their blood to make things right again.

Worker bee

Hey lame ham
How the fuck do you talk about honor and integrity in the same paragraph that your ok with killing cops. I guess your one on the idiots that views Dorner I mean Borner as a hero for standing up for what's right. What was so righteous about ambushing civilians and cops, please tell me where this A-hole showed integrity in that. You have not idea what serving the public takes. Believe me it's not worth the can of worms it comes with. You have to deal with A-hole criminals and A-hole supervision out there. Either way the working cop still goes out there and does their job with honor and integrity.

In Support of Terie

In Support of Terie

Again you really are taking the word of a murderer? Someone who was so unstable he killed innocent people? If you read the entire investigation specifically the original investigation you will note that hotel employees NOT cops stated she did not kick the suspect. Get your facts straight.

Charlie

For those who paint Dorner a "hero", consider this: you have a son or daughter sitting in a car with a friend who happens to have a father who has someone very upset with him. This someone walks up and shoots them both dead. Your son or daughter…dead. His or her friend…dead. No involvement with LAPD, Evans, cover-up, no cover-up, just two innocents, one of them yours, dead.
Now come to me and tell me your definition of "hero" hasn't changed.

rebecca wilson

spearchucker

KeepingItReal

They really need to stop trying to play up this T. Evans person… this is the 3rd article Ive read where they try and paint her as a hero when she was the center of the "manifesto". Yeah Dorner lost and did deplorable evil things but stop trying to play this person up as a Saint… I dont think anyone has a hard time believing that what Dorner wrote about her was true. "Chupacabra" likes to draw blood… come on.. a woman who makes an old lady bleed while arresting her is no hero…

Christopher Dorner ALLEGEDLY wrote a manifesto and he ALLEGEDLY committed murder. He was not given a chance to speak for himself. He was tried, convicted and executed without a trial. It could happen to anyone. I had thought a person was innocent until proven guilty, I was wrong. The unsuspecting innocent can be gunned down as they go about their daily lives. It has in fact already happened. T. Evans is afraid but she has others who will help protect her the rest of us just have to take our chances.

Devon

The thing thats been troubling me all along is that why would a cadet report his superior, more or less not fear retaliation of some sort? Apparently, he had nothing to gain but being ( remaining a sane and incorruptible human being) a good police officer that witness something so out of line and disturbing by his commander actions, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing before his very eyes. So the conclusion does not support the premise. It's fallacious to believe because he had a review that was negative that he would be motivated to file a false report against his superior. It doesn't makes sense. Why would he file a false report against his superior and knowing the outcome of it and yet risk filing it anyway if it was not true?

Now, no one in their right mind would justify Mr. Dorner actions. But knowing how evil doer's perpetrate grotesque offenses and how bystander cops witness vile, atrocious racism and brutal brutality, observing from the actions of Mr. Dorner he apparently set out for a day of reckoning!

S4287

Devon
Let me let you in on some information that may shed some light on you. Dorner was in the process of being let go because he could not perform satisfactory in the field. Evans his training officer was one of several TO that saw that this guy was unfit to be a cop. The so called incident of police brutality he reported against Evans happen way before he reported it. Dorner reported the incident and played the race card only after his TO gave him an unsatisfactory rating. Also the witnesses against him where civilians that witnessed the so called misconduct and all gave statements that Dorner's story was not true. LAPD is not perfect by far, but firing this guy who was obviously not all up there was the right thing to do. his manifesto shows that he was a rambling fool that was too arrogant to listen to a female training officer. Look it's simple this job is for some people and not for others. Dorner was not meant to wear a badge. I could just imagine how someone that unstable would be on the job. Talk about having a problem cop on your hands. Thankfully they got rid of him. He was a coward!!

and then come back and you will not even begin to listen to rhetoric being spewed by morons like Theresa Evans. Rememer, Dorner was an anomaly, he was educated, hardworking and a veteran. He knew he was under trained, and literally begged the LAPD for more training and they refused to provide it. The average LAPD officer is uneducated, without any type of formal training.. i.e. a Degree in Criminal Justice and or 4 years of active military duty.. and they are often people who were shunned by their peers in High School so they join the "Police Force" and form cliques easily as they are desperate for a sense of belonging. They then try to impress one another by abusing suspects. There is no doubt in my mind, that this Theresa Evans kicked the retarded man, she will get hers one day.. I would be surprised if Dorner didn't have more surprises even after he had left this earth..

TorranceMommy

Theresa Evans you should be absolutley ashamed of yourself!!!!! Look at what you're corrupt actions did to this poor man. You ruined his life along with many others. You are the cause of all of this and somewhere in you're black heart you know it. Shame on you. Shame on you….. SMH.We can't judge you but one day God will.